


It's Not Always Black And White

by Disconsolate_Mist, LadyShadowMage



Category: Magic Kaito, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Adventure, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Crossover, Gen, Pokemon Journey, Unova Region, pokemon black and white - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-25 00:35:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,991
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12024384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Disconsolate_Mist/pseuds/Disconsolate_Mist, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyShadowMage/pseuds/LadyShadowMage
Summary: Hopes! Dreams! New Discoveries! Adventures await for our three protagonists Kaito Kuroba (Black), Saguru Hakuba (White), and Shinichi Kudo (Truth). Join our heroes as they travel across the Unova region creating friendships, and questioning their individual ideals. Challenges lie in wait! You never know what you'll find along the journey...





	It's Not Always Black And White

**Author's Note:**

> Author's note: Hello everybody, and welcome to my new story “It's Not Always Black And White”. This is my first crossover piece between two(and ½) of my favorite franchises of all time: Pokemon and Detective Conan (Magic Kaito) It's also my first fic crossposted between FF and A03. Hopefully I figure the system out alright ^_^’
> 
> I had wanted to do this piece for a while, but it wasn’t until meeting my two co-authors DisconsolateMist aka Mist (Or in this franchise I guess Misty) and BloodiedCoreOfHope aka Lizzy, that I found myself able to pull it off. There are after all three starters to start every generation ;) I want to thank them and their amazing writing skills for making this possible!
> 
> This story is to be posted on my Birthday (never ask a Lady her age!) Which makes me happy as it really is an amalgamation of some of my favorite things. I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as we did writing it!
> 
> Standard disclaimer: All characters/settings belong to their respective owners. Pokemon is owned by Nintendo/Game Freak and Detective Conan belongs to Gosho Aoyama. Please support the official creator's works!

Hakuba sat quietly in the backseat, leaning his face against the cool window. As he watched the scenery rush past, the pink deerling herds and the pale green buds of many foreign plants mingling into a spring themed blue, he restrained a sigh. This move had almost no reason to happen, really. He could have stayed at home in Kanto, or gone on a trainer journey like some of his other friends had. Blue had already gotten his third badge and he hadn’t even been journeying a month! It was simple and routine, back home.

Instead… He removed his head from its position on the window to glare plaintively at his father. SI of the Unova police force, he said. It’ll be a change of pace, he said. No. This was not a wanted change of pace now that he was driving along some bumpy, rickety mountainside road framed by nature and luscious scenery. Hakuba wanted to go back home to Kanto, with its reassuringly flat grasslands, and desert, and the one mountain being famous for awesome space travelling pokemon living there.

“Saguru, you really should try to enjoy the move. We even have a surprise for you to discover while Baaya and I unpack! It’ll be a good change of pace.”

“I don’t want a change of pace. I want to go back home, where I could go on a journey with my friends.”

“Your friends managed to get themselves on the hit list for Team Rocket. You should be glad to move away from such troublemakers anyway.” And there was Baaya. You can always trust Baaya to follow logic, even if it made little sense to people who had sensible dreams. Since joining said ‘troublemakers’ in assisting the police to take down large criminal organisations wasn’t sensible enough for her, for some reason.

Hakuba sighed, leaning his face on the window once more. If they didn’t get the importance of stopping crimes more widespread than the occasional vandalist gang that surfaced, then that was their loss.

“Come on, Saguru, maybe you’ll find some new friends over in Unova.” His father stated, wearing a slightly forced smile.

“I won’t like anyone you try to set me upk with.” He bit back.

“I’m just asking you to try being nice, alright?”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Then you’ll have a very boring time in Unova, won’t you?”

Hakuba grit his teeth, his father could be very aggravating sometimes. Just for that, he should make an effort to keep his friends from Kanto, and reject anyone from Unova.

/\/\  
(0.0)  
¬ ¬

Meanwhile, Shinichi had his nose buried deep in his collector's edition of Sherlock Holmes, containing each and every novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes between its lovely hardback cover. He was laying on his stomach, book propped up at the perfect angle on the pillow of his bed where he lay. His legs kicked in the air, as he read, digesting every word like ambrosia, reading just about from memory, and loving every bit of it.

Now, though Shinichi was well into his eleventh year of life on Earth, he wasn’t a trainer as of yet. He didn’t really wish to be, though he knew his parents wanted it. He wanted to continue life here in Nuvema Town, solving whatever mystery he stumbled upon, and reading books. As well as getting an actual education from his mother. In his eyes, it was rather pointless to become a trainer, when he only wanted to spend the rest of his life learning, and solving mysteries. You really didn’t need a pokemon for that, did you?

“Shinichi!” Curse the high-pitched voice that drew him from the pages of his book. He looked up, annoyed, as his mother burst into his room, looking incredibly excited. Her eyes were bright, though she still wore a bathrobe from her shower, which had been hours earlier that morning.

“Mhhhm,” Shinichi mumbled dismissively, shooting a glare of daggers over at his mother. This didn’t make her pause, however. She just continued straight on, words cascading from her mouth.

“We’re going to have a visitor! A few, actually! So, quickly, get dressed! They’re going to arrive any minute now!” She slammed the door of the room behind her after that, leaving Shinichi blinking in her wake. Talk about hyperactive.

“What…? Visitors?” Shinichi slowly put his book down, quickly memorizing the page as he was doing so. He walked over to his drawers, pulling out a set of clothes slowly, as he was still in his pajamas.

So, they were going to have visitors, now were they? Better not be the Professor again, here to try and convince him to pick a starter pokemon. The portly man had come over a few times now, and while Shinichi did enjoy seeing him, he wished the Professor would stop trying to get him to choose the starter he wanted.

Shinichi padded down the stairs, adjusting his green tie. He noticed his mom had set up a quick breakfast for him on the table, a few pieces of toast, miltank yogurt, and a cup of juice. He looked around, gaze wandering over to the living room, where he found his mother, now dressed, wearing a patterned skirt with a decorative scarf, and a plain tank top. Her hair was whirling down her back in a controlled mess of curls.

“So… who’s this ‘visitor’?” Shinichi questioned as he walked up to his mother, who was standing in wait by the door, an expression of anticipation on her face.

“A new friend, who I think you’ll get along well with,” she sent a wide grin down to Shinichi, “so keep an open mind, alright?”

Shinichi just gave a short grumble under his breath, pursing his lips as he stood awkwardly by the door. He really hated that his mom’s main goal in life seemed to be making his decisions for him. She really needed to give him a break. Maybe he should become a pokemon trainer after all, if it would get him away from her smothering…

Shinichi then decided to go eat the goods laid out for him, his stomach grumbling eagerly as he drew closer to it. He was, however, disturbed swiftly by the doorbell. That cursed doorbell…! it couldn’t let him get a mere bite of food in, could it?

Shinichi glanced towards the door, where his mother had stepped out to greet whoever was there. He should go greet them too, but he didn’t want to. So, Shinichi continued to make his way to the table, sitting down to start his breakfast.

He was just about to take a bit from his toast when his mother entered the house once again, followed by a blond boy who looked to be around Shinichi’s age. He dragged behind him a single suitcase, and looked just about as happy as Shinichi felt. His breakfast had just been interrupted, once again! How was a guy supposed to get a bite of food around here?

“Shinichi? Come on over, be sociable and greet our guest!” At the unavoidable beckoning of his mother, Shinichi dragged himself from his chair, mumbling dejectedly about his breakfast all the way to his mother and their guest.

“Hello, I’m Shinichi. It’s nice to meet you,” the tufted child greeted dully, as if it were something he had recited millions of times, holding his hand out for the other boy to shake.

“Saguru. Saguru Hakuba,” the blond boy greeted tersely and with frustration colouring his voice, he looked Shinichi over. Shinichi had already done so for Hakuba, so he just let the other boy gather what he could about him. Though, the other boy’s actions did make Shinichi curious as to what Hakuba enjoyed doing. The only other children who had inspected him as this child had when they had first met were Kaito and Heiji.

“So… You’re not a trainer yet, I guess.” Saguru’s voice sounded disappointed, and he gave Shinichi a look that spoke of judgement and annoyance.

Shinichi narrowed his eyes in reply, displeased. How dare this random boy waltz into his home and immediately judge him! “I don’t find pleasure in the trainer’s way of life. I choose to spend my time on more valuable life skills, like reading and science.”

Saguru just shook his head, sighing. Shinichi fumed, clenching his fists. He had just met this other child, and he was already getting on his nerves! It was perfectly okay for him not to have wishes to be a trainer.

“You have no right to judge me. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have my breakfast to finish.” Before his mom could attempt to stop him, Shinichi stormed back to where his breakfast lay. He then proceeded to furiously shove toast in his mouth, along with spoonfuls of yogurt. He could feel Saguru’s gaze resting on him, to which he responded by sticking a crumb coated tongue out at the other boy. The blond child only narrowed his eyes in disgust, then asked Shinichi’s mom where a room he could rest in was, obviously wanting to get as far away from Shinichi as possible.

The tufted child gave a sour laugh, inwardly. Kaito’s mannerisms really had rubbed off on him quite a bit over the years.

/\/\  
(0.0)  
¬ ¬

Meanwhile, said magician was sleeping the day away in his bed. He had stayed up all last night preparing for the start of his journey as a pokemon trainer. His mother had accidentally let slip that the next day he would be receiving his starter, and he was more than a little excited. Thus, he had spent the whole night going through the pro’s and cons of each potential starter pokemon. After all, this was going to be his official partner in crime.

Now, however, he lay in his bed lazily dreaming away about his debut on the pokemon musical stage. He could fuzzily picture himself sitting back stage, giving directions while his pokemon performed. The audience’s cheering filling his ears in a deafening roar. Of course he wanted to be up on stage with them, but in Unova, it was well known that the pokemon did most of the work.

In his mind’s eye, he imagined his father’s proud smile as the performance ended and he was awarded with a new prop for his pokemon. A shiny silver monocle with a clover on it, a replica of the one his father’s serperior had once worn.

Suddenly, he was awoken from his dreams with the stinging feeling of being wing-slapped by a pidove. He opened his eyes groggily to find one of his father’s pidoves, Bai, flying just above his face. Bai cooed indignantly, flying away to land on his broken alarm clock.

Kaito shot awake, suddenly realising just what day today was. “Crap, I overslept!” He scrambled up, running to the door. What a start to his debut as a trainer. Just as he was about to head out the door, his mother called to him.

“Just a minute, Kai!” Chikage bellowed from the hallway, hands on her hips. “And just where do you think you’re off to?”

Kaito paused in the doorway. “You know, to get my partner pokemon! I’m already late so…”

Chikage shook her head. “Not looking like that,” she chuckled, pointing at his outfit.

Kaito looked down at his outfit and flushed deeply, somewhat embarrassed as he suddenly took in the fact that he was still in his pajamas. “Oh...Oops,” he said rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Chikage just smiled and held out a nicely folded outfit for him. “Honestly. What am I going to do with you? You’re just like your father...” She smiled, letting out an exasperated sigh.

Kaito just grinned, shrugging and doing a stage speed change into his trainer outfit. He waved as he ran the rest of the way out the door, a wide, excited grin spreading on his face. He was just too excited to slow down!

Then, he remembered something unusual that had been mentioned yesterday along with the slip up about the starters. “Oh yeah, didn’t mom mention about going to Shinichi’s for some reason?” He paused, still speed walking towards Shinichi’s house. “Oh! That’s right, she said that there was some sort of surprise there!”

Nodding to himself, he moved as fast as his legs could carry him over to his childhood friends house. He had a good feeling that whatever the surprise was, he was going to like it a lot. With this in mind, he ran up to his friends house, smile plastered firmly on his face.

He nearly bowled over the Professor as he rounded the corner at the same moment. Despite bumping into him with such velocity, Kaito managed to catch the pokeballs in his hands, juggling them for a minute. “Oops, sorry Professor!” He tossed the pokeballs in the air one last time before handing them over smoothly with a neat bow.

Professor Hiroshi Agasa chuckled. “That's quite alright, Kaito. No harm done. Oh, are you here for your starter pokemon?”

Kaito’s eyes lit up. “Yep! Though mom mentioned there was another surprise here as well.”

Professor Agasa nodded, a glint in his eye. “Shall we, then?” He reached up to ring the doorbell, but found his hand intercepted by Kaito’s, who eagerly pressed it first.

Yukiko opened the door almost immediately. “Ah! You made it,” she said, glancing at the professor and then she turned to face Kaito who quickly tried to zip past her. “Kai!” She grabbed him before he could escape, pulling him into an enthusiastic hug.

Kaito squirmed in her arms. He was used to his friend’s mother’s enthusiasm, which often meant he avoided coming directly to Shinichi’s house, preferring to clamber in through windows or the roof entrance. “Hello, auntie Yukiko,” he gasped out and received an almost immediate glare for his troubles. It had the desired effect though, as she released him from her grasp.

“How many times have I told you not to call me that? Just Yukiko is fine. I’m not old enough to be an aunt just yet!”

Kaito put on an innocent face. No doubt his father would be scolding him for pestering the actress. But only if he could see. “Yes ma'am. Umm, is Shin inside?”

Yukiko brightened up suddenly. “Yes. I should let him know you arrived.” She turned, calling to the background. “Shinichi! Your other guests are here!”

Kaito heard some shuffling in the background, and what sounded like a groan. Yep, that was Shinichi in there alright. “Come on out, Shin! I know you’re in there!” Kaito called enthusiastically.

There was yet another annoyed groan, and the sound of a couple of distant voices arguing quietly over something. Kaito recognized one of them as Shinichi, but the other was unknown and had a bit of a foreign tint to it. Was this the other surprise his mother was talking about? A new friend?

Yukiko motioned for he and the Professor to come inside. Kaito shrugged, following her lead and the three of them went into the next room. There they were greeted by a grumpy faced Shinichi, who had his arms crossed in annoyance as he sat in a reclining chair, as well as a blond haired boy who Kaito didn’t recognize. Must be the voice he had heard from the entryway.

Ignoring Shinichi for a second, Kaito trotted up to the new person and, giving him a bright grin, produced a white faux flower in the shape of a floette from his hand. “Hello! My name is Kaito Kuroba, entertainer extraordinaire! What's your name?”

The boy stared at the flower, looking both like he was stifling a smile but at the same time intrigued. “Saguru Hakuba. Pleased to meet you.” He fell silent after introducing himself, instead opting to stare at the gift.

Kaito just grinned at him, noticing Shinichi watching with a deceptively bored expression from the chair he was sitting in. “Oi, why didn’t you tell me you had made a new friend, Shin?” Kaito stuck out his lip in a pout. “I thought we were friends!”

Shinichi let out a huff of annoyance, rolling his eyes. “First of all- friends is a relative term. Your parents and mine are acquaintances, and we just happened to live in nearby neighborhoods our whole life. Second...I only just met Saguru today. Same as you.”

Kaito made an ‘o’ shape with his mouth. He slowly did some mental calculations in his head and then the information clicked in his mind. “Wait, does this mean what I think it means?” he glanced over at the Professor, who was standing there with a smile on his portly face.

“That depends what you think it means.” The professor answered back, smiling wildly.

Kaitos eyes sparkled “These two are going to be my fellow trainers!” he said enthusiastically, and he heard yet another groan from behind him.

The Professor nodded. “Precisely. I’ve come to bring you all your first pokemon.”

Kaito could feel his heart racing as he stared excitedly at the Professor as he held out the three pokeballs from earlier. However, when he glanced around, he saw that his two friends weren’t nearly as enthusiastic. In fact, Saguru looked downright shocked.

/\/\  
(0.0)  
¬ ¬

Saguru stood up from his chair, eyes wide with surprise. “What do you mean, first pokemon? I only just got here from Kanto!”

He heard Kaito gasp. “You came all the way from Kanto?! That’s pretty cool! You’re going to love the Unova region.”

“What’s so much better about it, anyway? I was happy back home before my father decided to drag us all over to Unova!” Saguru growled, his initial reaction clearly being replaced by petulance, now seeing the boy’s view as something he needed to defend against.

“Oh? I have to admit I love Kanto...What little I've seen of it, anyway…”

“You like Kanto?” Saguru seemed surprised, and more than a little confused.

Kaito shrugged. “My dad’s a bit of a world traveler. We’ve been on vacation a couple of times in other regions for his shows. I haven’t been there in a while, though.”

“Why are you in Unova, then? Your accent doesn’t quite fit, and it’s more than just being well travelled.” Saguru frowned contemplatively, going over regional accents in his head.

“Well, my parents actually met in Kalos. Since then, we’ve moved around a bit, though we spent quite a lot of time in the Hoenn region. Shin’s parents lived there too, didn't they, Shin?”

Shinichi nodded, “Yeah, we moved over here when I was little, but I don’t remember much of it. The move was good for me, though.”

Saguru sat back down, staring at them incredulously. “You’re both mad! Why would you want to stay here? It’s full of massive cities and the only pokemon here are isolated breeds, even if they’ve migrated to Kalos recently…” He knew he had a lot more he wanted to say, but his tongue wouldn’t form any of the words.

He watched as Kaito just shrugged, grinning like an idiot. Shinichi didn’t seem to care either way. Was everyone in this region daft?

The professor cleared his throat, smiling widely. “I know you want to get to know each other first, but would you like to pick the starters now? Shinichi, if you say no again, you’ll be cleaning up my lab for a week.”

Shinichi sat straight up. “Now that’s just not fair!”

Agasa shrugged. “If you don’t want to go on a journey now, you’ll never get the chance again. Besides, you’ll have two smart friends with you. You can hardly complain.”

Shinichi looked like he was about to protest, but held himself back, weighing his options. Eventually, he sighed and nodded. “Fine. But don’t expect me to enjoy it immediately like Mr. Magic over there.”

Agasa grinned, “Good. Now, show off your skills, Tepig, Snivy, Oshawott!” As he said their names, he tapped a ball for each pokemon.

First, came a small orange and black piglet, looking decidedly terrified. It puffed a little burst of black smoke, and stepped backwards in fear when it noticed the humans staring at it. The second one, a green reptilian tripped over and landed on its face, before quickly getting up and posing several times. Kaito’s eyes lit up, clearly decided on which one he wanted. The last one, a pale blue something or other gave them all a once over, before sighing and fiddling with the shell that rested on its belly.

Saguru leaned down, frowning slightly. He looked first at the oshawott, then the snivy, and lastly the tepig. The tepig froze when he turned his gaze towards it, before trying to step backwards again. Its trotters didn’t find any purchase however, and the piglet fell backwards with a shocked squeal. Saguru dove straight under the table, and only just managed to stop it from landing headfirst by scooping it from the air and moving the small pokemon onto its back.

He pulled himself backwards, carrying the tepig with him slowly so as not to startle it. When he began to straighten up, the tepig seemed to realise something was happening, and latched onto his hand in a panic the only way he could- with teeth. Saguru hissed in pain, but made no attempt to pry the piglet off. “Hey, easy on the hand, yeah? I’m not gonna hurt you, little biter.”

The piglet blinked opened its eyes, surprised that he hadn’t been thrown off yet. It wrapped itself tightly around his hand with the rest of its body, slowly releasing his hand from the death grip of its jaw. Saguru shifted his arms a little so he was holding the tepig like a baby, supporting its head and back carefully in his arms like a cradle. “There, was that so hard?” He smiled at the little pig, before turning to face the group “I guess this one’s chosen me, then?”

A collective breath was let out, as they realised that the moment was over. Agasa laughed, breaking the silence. “I don’t think Tepig would let you pick another starter, not after that stunt. Do you want to give him a nickname?”

Saguru blinked. “A… Nickname?”

“Yes, it’s something that brings trainers and pokemon closer together, even though it’s more common with ‘pet’ pokemon like Skitty or Rockruff these days.”

Saguru seemed to ponder for a moment, then raised his right hand. It was bleeding slightly and the bite wounds were obvious, even if he wasn’t feeling the pain yet. That wound was going to scar. “I think, given how strong his jaw is, ‘Biter’ would be perfect for him.” The newly named Biter nipped him, and gave a squeal of approval.

Meanwhile Kaito leaned down next to snivy and produced a tiny top hat in a poof of smoke. “What do you say, snivy, want to be my partner? I'll teach you all sorts of tricks!” The snivy looked between Kaito and the tiny white top hat. He reached for the hat with his short arms, giving out a small noise of approval, clutching the hat close to his chest before doing a small twirl. Kaito laughed and picked snivy up, attaching the top hat to its head. “I’m going to call you Clover!”

Agasa chuckled knowingly, watching the two new trainers. He could already tell that these two would get along very well with their partners. Though as to the last one… He took a surreptitious glance at Shinichi and oshawott.

Shinichi had been hanging at the edges, watching warily as the other two boys chose and immediately started bonding. He glanced over at the last pokemon left, an oshawott who was currently sitting against the one of the walls, possessing a surprisingly chill attitude despite his adorable exterior. Shinichi shook his head with a sigh. Might as well get this over with…

He headed over to the tiny blue pokemon, kneeling down before it. “Hey. I’m Shinichi?” he said this awkwardly, unsure of exactly how to address the pokemon. It looked up at him, seeming to raise an eyebrow. Shinichi blinked at it. They stared at each other for another few moments, sizing each other up.

Then, Shinichi cracked a grin, holding out a finger. “Heh, I think we’ll make a good team. Would you like to join me?”

The oshawott stared at his finger with something resembling apprehension for a minute, then gave into a smile itself. Nodding, it grabbed Shinichi’s finger, and shook it with its tiny paws. “Osh.”

Agasa let out a sigh of relief, glad his job had gone well for once. “Well now that you have your pokemon… How about a battle?”

“Head up to Shin’s room. Since he’s leaving, it can get a little destroyed. Just please don’t ruin my living room,” Yukiko piped in, pointing upstairs.

The group did as she asked, murmuring along the way.

“Oh, a battle! That’s gonna be fun~ I’ve been wanting to do one forever!” Kaito exclaimed, grinning at Shinichi.

Saguru flinched at Agasa’s suggestion, Biter looking up at him curiously. “A battle?”

Agasa nodded. “Of course! What’s the fun otherwise? You three are rivals after all.” He gave a wink, grinning widely.

Kaito quickly broke in. “Well, I’m all for it! Come on, Shin, Saguru! Let’s test out our pokemon’s strength!” Kaito’s grin was as wide as the Professor’s he juggled snivy’s pokeball while his snivy, Clover, watched, matching his pose.

“But there are three of us…” Saguru pointed out, feeling more than a little nervous, but also equally excited about the prospect of his first pokemon battle. He had watched his friends back home in Kanto battle alongside their partners, and it seemed like a brilliant way to get to know their partners. “It would be rather chaotic for all three of us to fight at the same time.”

“Well, why don’t we just take turns in that case?” Shinichi piped up, standing up from where he had been sitting against the wall with his new partner, oshawott. “Kaito,” he sent a pointed look at the other boy, “be sure not to destroy my room too badly.”

“Okay!” Kaito sang, pulling Clover over to the center of the room. He then took a ready stance behind his pokemon, both watching carefully as Shinichi and oshawott made their way across from them.

“This is a one-on-one battle between Shinichi Kudo and Kaito Kuroba. Remember to be careful, as we’re in a closed space, and since this is your first battle, have fun!” the Professor narrated merrily, indicating with a slice of his hand through the air that Shinichi and Kaito should start.

Kaito was on the move almost immediately, commanding Clover to use vine whip. Clover, however, didn’t move, giving Kaito a confused look over his shoulder. Kaito blinked at his pokemon, then waved at it to go ahead. “Come on, use vine whip.”

Clover tipped his head, giving a small “Vy?” of inquiry. Kaito moved his mouth up and down, seeming unsure of exactly what he should do now.

“Err, use tailwhip?” he tried, looking over at the Professor to see if he could get any help. The professor merely smiled at him, indicating that he should continue on. Snivy still didn’t move however, and was starting to tap its toe impatiently.

“Leer…?” Kaito said unsurely, and Snivy stiffened, then sent a fierce glare over to oshawott, who jumped back, visible tingles going up his spine.

Shinichi looked around frantically, as if there were some item in the room that could help oshawott out. He seemed to be searching for something, or someone, that could aid him in this case.

How had these other two not read up on pokemon beforehand? Saguru watched the battles progress with a critical eye. In truth, he knew very little about the starters of Unova, but if they were anything like the starters in Kanto… He noticed Shinichi try and lock gazes with him as if asking for help. He just shrugged casually and smirked. What business was it of his if the other two didn't know the basics of battling?

Shinichi returned to the battle. “Sharokku… Use tackle?”

Saguru’s eyes lightened in a bit of surprise. Not that about him getting a move right, no, it was that his pokemon was named ‘Sharokku’, which was the Kantonese* name for Sherlock. The blond boy’s all-time favorite book character. He then did a search of the room. Soon, he found what he was looking for. A collector’s edition of Sherlock Holmes, poking out from Shinichi’s covers. At least, that’s what he presumed it to be. It was a little hard to tell from the fact it was just the corner poking out.

Saguru turned his gaze back to the battle, where Sharokku had broken from the leer, and had tackled Clover to the ground. Clover pushed up almost immediately, doing an elegant twirl as it lifted up. It flinched a little bit, obviously having experienced damage, but remained steady for the most part. Sharokku gave an unhappy pant, moving back towards Shinichi.

“Clover, tackle!” Kaito exclaimed, trying the move that worked for Shinichi. Saguru gave a satisfied smile. Finally, they were getting it.

Snivy dashed forward on legs much swifter than oshawott’s, leaving Shinichi just staring in horror as Sharokku was thrown against the wall with a fierce blow. The oshawott had a little trouble getting to its feet, but did it quickly enough, obviously greatly hindered by the damage it had taken. Shinichi gave it a worried look, but the oshawott just shook its head, giving Shinichi an asuring; “Shwott!”

“Tackle!” Shinichi commanded again, playing it safe. Oshawott nodded, dashing towards the other snivy on pure adrenaline. Saguru watched this in interest, the battle actually growing a bit more exciting than he had expected. Still didn’t match any of his old friend’s battles. Those had always been the best.

Snivy quickly dodged, and oshawott rushed straight past. Sharokku then turned around, a look of exasperation growing on his face. Clover stuck his tongue out, provoking Sharokku. Unfortunately, it worked.

“Sharokku, w-,” Shinichi tried to cry out obviously having a strategy in mind, but oshawott was already on the move, rushing towards snivy.

Once again, Sharokku passed Clover. A glint entered Kaito’s eye, “Tackle!” and it was over. Sharokku was knocked to the floor of Shinichi’s room, a couple books falling from the force. No matter how hard the tiny pokemon attempted to get up, it had taken one too many attacks. Its eyes slowly drooped as it fell back to the floor.

Shinichi rushed over to his fallen pokemon, giving it a careful look over. The Professor went over as well, pulling some medicine from his lab coat pocket. The wounds were nothing serious, just some bruises from the impact. Larger pokemon could take hits like that easier, but for now Sharokku was out for the count.

Clover, in the meanwhile, wandered over to Kaito with a few minor bruises. He bowed gently in front of him before striking a victory pose. Kaito beamed down at him. “Great job, buddy, you did it!” He cheered. Then he picked Clover up gently in his hands, carrying him over to the others. “Sorry Shin, but looks like I won this round!”

Saguru stepped in, clearing his throat a little. “When you’ve healed Clover a little, maybe he and Biter could battle next?”

Kaito nodded enthusiastically, Clover squirming in his arms. “Sure! Don't expect me to hold back though just because you’re new here.”

A raised eyebrow was his only response, as Biter moved protectively in front of Saguru, He leaned down to Biter, “Do your best, okay? It’s alright if you don’t win the first match, Biter.”

Agasa handed over some medicine to Kaito, who rubbed it gently on Clover, healing him up before the match. “Whenever you two are ready.”

Saguru got into a ready stance, and locked gazes with Biter. He waited a moment, and received a determined huff of smoke in reply as Biter turned towards Clover, an aggressive gleam now in his eyes.

Clover seemed to hold his ground against the gaze, but showed signs of shaking. Kaito stood behind him, looking just as confident. “Lets show him Clover! Use tackle!” Clover strode forward as commanded.

Saguru frowned, about to reply with another attack but Biter’s actions cut him off. He dodged to the side, then watched him carefully. Saguru blinked, and the moment passed. “Use tackle as well, don’t let him dodge!”

With a sound of determined strength, the little piglet threw himself bodily at the reptile. With how fast Biter charged at it, his opponent didn’t stand a chance. Clover was knocked back with a small cry of pain. Kaito gasped watching as Biter charged again. Kaito tried to cry out for Clover to dodge, but it was too late. Biter hit Clover with a resounding thump.

Clover did it’s best to recover, but it immediately fell limp. Kaito rushed to gather him up in his arms. “Hang in there Clover…” Kaito took out the medicine the professor had given him earlier dabbing it on Clovers wounds.

With a pleased oink, Biter trotted over to Saguru. “You didn’t have to go quite so hard on him, but you did well. Have you battled before?” Biter seemed to hesitate, but he nodded anyway. “Strange… I thought starters were supposed to be hand raised?”

Agasa blinked at him, “Well, normally, but this one was returned by the trainer who used it before. It didn’t grow very much, nor was it attached to him so we agreed to take him back for another trainer to have. Sometimes trainers pick the wrong pokemon, it happens.”

The boys all seemed to share the same reaction to this news. It was pretty clear they had no intention of doing the same. If the looks on Kaito and Shinichis faces were any indication they were already quite attached to their pokemon. Saguru’s expression was equal parts shock and steel, he clearly had no intentions of ever letting his Tepig go.

“Well now that you have tested your strength in battle, I think it’s time you three get started on your journeys. The Pokemon League awaits!” Agasa gave them all a bright smile.

Initially, Saguru seemed uncertain as to respond with, but Biter tugged his pant leg with the most innocently excited look you ever saw before he could completely renounce the idea. Kaito and Clover both looked at Agasa excitedly. Meanwhile Yukiko who had stayed out of the room during the commotion reappeared behind the professor. “Professor, aren’t you forgetting something?” She held in her hand three devices, each decked out in one of the three elemental colours.

Agasa blinked and then laughed rubbing the back of his head. “Oops, I nearly forgot!” He quickly grabbed the devices handing the to each of the boys. “These are your pokedexs. They are complex bits of machinery, but the interface is fairly simple. Just scan each pokemon you encounter to get some flavour text and data on their habitat, stuff like that.” He took Kaito’s one for a moment, and pressed a button.

A red beam came from the camera, and it whirled around, before landing on Snivy. It went up and down a few times before a high pitched beep sounded and it stopped. “There, it’s that simple! Now, your parents only packed your bags with enough food to last a week so try not to get lost on the way to Accumula town, alright?”

The boys, eyes shining with wonder and curiosity, nodded together. This was only just the beginning of a grand adventure for the three of them.

What new discoveries lie in wait for our heroes next time? Only time will tell.

**Author's Note:**

> *Kantonese is a made up written language for the sake of this story. From what research we’ve done it seems that the pokemon world everyone speaks pretty much the same language (with some exception) but the written word comes in multiple languages. 
> 
> Did you all catch the Poke-kaomojis? Let us know if you think you know what pokemon it is! We will reveal it next chapter ;) 
> 
> A.N  
> LadyS here! Writer of main Authors Note above. Below are two partners in crime fiction. Thanks for reading and if you have any questions/comments please feel free to leave a review. We all appreciate it :D 
> 
> A.N. 2.0 I’m BCoH because I couldn’t pick something short for my pen name, pronounced Bee-Koh, spelt out as BloodiedCoreofHope. Hello. 
> 
> A.N 3.0 Misty-chan (Disconsolate Mist), here~ Glad to have you reading! Hoping you enjoy our first chapter here (THANK YOU LADYS AND BEE-KOH FOR LETTING ME HELP!! :D I really enjoy working with you two. :3 And thanks for catching my bountiful of mistakes…)


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